Born on April 1, 1902, in Ston, near Dubrovnik, Croatia, Piero Pierotic initially trained as an officer in the Royal Yugoslav Navy but ended his military career in the mid-1920s to pursue music. He studied in Zagreb and made his operatic debut there in 1929. He then continued his training in Vienna and, beginning in 1930, started building a reputation as a concert singer, whose “magnificent baritone” was frequently heard on the radio. In 1932, under the name Peter Pieroti, he was engaged at the Semperoper, where he performed roles such as Hermann in Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and the usher in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.
On April 25, 1933, shortly after the Nazis came to power, Pierotic was
dismissed because his wife was Jewish. He left Germany and performed at
the Vienna Volksoper in 1934/35, at the Basel Opera in 1935/36, in
Aussig in 1936/37, and at the Vienna State Opera until 1939. He appears
to have made his last appearance there on April 28, 1939, as Sergeant
Morales in George Bizet’s Carmen. Later, he recalled: “When I sensed
that war was coming, I signed a guest contract at the Teatro Municipale
in Rio de Janeiro.”
By the end of the season, the war had begun, and Pierotic decided not to
return to Europe.
In 1940, he emigrated from Rio de Janeiro to the United States, where he pursued a concert career, performing at schools and universities as well as many other venues across the country. In 1957, he retired from the stage after a concert at Carnegie Hall and settled in Parchment, Michigan. Piero Pierotic died on February 26, 1986, in nearby Cooper, Michigan.
1902 Ston
1986 Cooper, Michigan